NIST National Checklist Program Security Guide
Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile
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Disable Ctrl-Alt-Del Reboot Activation
By default, <code>SystemD</code> will reboot the system if the <code>Ctrl-Alt-Del</code> key sequence is pressed. <br><br> To configure the system to ignore the <code>Ctrl-Alt-Del</code> key sequen...Rule High Severity -
Verify that Interactive Boot is Disabled
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 systems support an "interactive boot" option that can be used to prevent services from being started. On a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 system, interactive boot can be enab...Rule Medium Severity -
Require Authentication for Single User Mode
Single-user mode is intended as a system recovery method, providing a single user root access to the system by providing a boot option at startup. <br><br> By default, single-user mode is protected...Rule Medium Severity -
Configure Screen Locking
When a user must temporarily leave an account logged-in, screen locking should be employed to prevent passersby from abusing the account. User education and training is particularly important for s...Group -
Configure Console Screen Locking
A console screen locking mechanism is a temporary action taken when a user stops work and moves away from the immediate physical vicinity of the information system but does not logout because of th...Group -
Install the screen Package
To enable console screen locking, install the <code>screen</code> package. The <code>screen</code> package can be installed with the following command: <pre> $ sudo yum install screen</pre> Instruc...Rule Medium Severity -
Hardware Tokens for Authentication
The use of hardware tokens such as smart cards for system login provides stronger, two-factor authentication than using a username and password. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers and workstation...Group -
Install the opensc Package For Multifactor Authentication
Theopenscpackage can be installed with the following command:$ sudo yum install opensc
Rule Medium Severity -
Install the pcsc-lite package
Thepcsc-litepackage can be installed with the following command:$ sudo yum install pcsc-lite
Rule Medium Severity -
Enable the pcscd Service
Thepcscdservice can be enabled with the following command:$ sudo systemctl enable pcscd.service
Rule Medium Severity -
Configure opensc Smart Card Drivers
The OpenSC smart card tool can auto-detect smart card drivers; however, setting the smart card drivers in use by your organization helps to prevent users from using unauthorized smart cards. The de...Rule Medium Severity -
Configure NSS DB To Use opensc
The <code>opensc</code> module should be configured for use over the <code>Coolkey PKCS#11</code> module in the NSS database. To configure the NSS database to use the <code>opensc</code> module, ru...Rule Medium Severity -
Force opensc To Use Defined Smart Card Driver
The OpenSC smart card middleware can auto-detect smart card drivers; however by forcing the smart card driver in use by your organization, opensc will no longer autodetect or use other drivers unle...Rule Medium Severity -
Protect Accounts by Restricting Password-Based Login
Conventionally, Unix shell accounts are accessed by providing a username and password to a login program, which tests these values for correctness using the <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/...Group -
Set Account Expiration Parameters
Accounts can be configured to be automatically disabled after a certain time period, meaning that they will require administrator interaction to become usable again. Expiration of accounts after in...Group -
Set Account Expiration Following Inactivity
To specify the number of days after a password expires (which signifies inactivity) until an account is permanently disabled, add or correct the following line in <code>/etc/default/useradd</code>:...Rule Medium Severity -
Set Password Expiration Parameters
The file <code>/etc/login.defs</code> controls several password-related settings. Programs such as <code>passwd</code>, <code>su</code>, and <code>login</code> consult <code>/etc/login.defs</code> ...Group -
Set Password Maximum Age
To specify password maximum age for new accounts, edit the file <code>/etc/login.defs</code> and add or correct the following line: <pre>PASS_MAX_DAYS <xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.con...Rule Medium Severity -
Set Password Minimum Age
To specify password minimum age for new accounts, edit the file <code>/etc/login.defs</code> and add or correct the following line: <pre>PASS_MIN_DAYS <xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.con...Rule Medium Severity -
Set Password Warning Age
To specify how many days prior to password expiration that a warning will be issued to users, edit the file <code>/etc/login.defs</code> and add or correct the following line: <pre>PASS_WARN_AGE <...Rule Medium Severity -
Verify Proper Storage and Existence of Password Hashes
By default, password hashes for local accounts are stored in the second field (colon-separated) in <code>/etc/shadow</code>. This file should be readable only by processes running with root credent...Group -
Verify All Account Password Hashes are Shadowed
If any password hashes are stored in <code>/etc/passwd</code> (in the second field, instead of an <code>x</code> or <code>*</code>), the cause of this misconfiguration should be investigated. The a...Rule Medium Severity -
All GIDs referenced in /etc/passwd must be defined in /etc/group
Add a group to the system for each GID referenced without a corresponding group.Rule Low Severity -
Prevent Login to Accounts With Empty Password
If an account is configured for password authentication but does not have an assigned password, it may be possible to log into the account without authentication. Remove any instances of the <code>...Rule High Severity -
Restrict Root Logins
Direct root logins should be allowed only for emergency use. In normal situations, the administrator should access the system via a unique unprivileged account, and then use <code>su</code> or <cod...Group -
Verify Only Root Has UID 0
If any account other than root has a UID of 0, this misconfiguration should be investigated and the accounts other than root should be removed or have their UID changed. <br> If the account is asso...Rule High Severity -
Direct root Logins Not Allowed
To further limit access to the <code>root</code> account, administrators can disable root logins at the console by editing the <code>/etc/securetty</code> file. This file lists all devices the root...Rule Medium Severity -
Restrict Serial Port Root Logins
To restrict root logins on serial ports, ensure lines of this form do not appear in/etc/securetty:ttyS0 ttyS1
Rule Medium Severity -
Restrict Virtual Console Root Logins
To restrict root logins through the (deprecated) virtual console devices, ensure lines of this form do not appear in/etc/securetty:vc/1 vc/2 vc/3 vc/4
Rule Medium Severity -
Secure Session Configuration Files for Login Accounts
When a user logs into a Unix account, the system configures the user's session by reading a number of files. Many of these files are located in the user's home directory, and may have weak permissi...Group -
Ensure the Logon Failure Delay is Set Correctly in login.defs
To ensure the logon failure delay controlled by <code>/etc/login.defs</code> is set properly, add or correct the <code>FAIL_DELAY</code> setting in <code>/etc/login.defs</code> to read as follows: ...Rule Medium Severity -
Limit the Number of Concurrent Login Sessions Allowed Per User
Limiting the number of allowed users and sessions per user can limit risks related to Denial of Service attacks. This addresses concurrent sessions for a single account and does not address concurr...Rule Low Severity -
Set Interactive Session Timeout
Setting the <code>TMOUT</code> option in <code>/etc/profile</code> ensures that all user sessions will terminate based on inactivity. The value of TMOUT should be exported and read only. The <code>...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure that Users Have Sensible Umask Values
The umask setting controls the default permissions for the creation of new files. With a default <code>umask</code> setting of 077, files and directories created by users will not be readable by an...Group -
Ensure the Default Bash Umask is Set Correctly
To ensure the default umask for users of the Bash shell is set properly, add or correct the <code>umask</code> setting in <code>/etc/bashrc</code> to read as follows: <pre>umask <xccdf-1.2:sub idre...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure the Default C Shell Umask is Set Correctly
To ensure the default umask for users of the C shell is set properly, add or correct the <code>umask</code> setting in <code>/etc/csh.cshrc</code> to read as follows: <pre>umask <xccdf-1.2:sub idre...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure the Default Umask is Set Correctly in login.defs
To ensure the default umask controlled by <code>/etc/login.defs</code> is set properly, add or correct the <code>UMASK</code> setting in <code>/etc/login.defs</code> to read as follows: <pre>UMASK ...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure the Default Umask is Set Correctly in /etc/profile
To ensure the default umask controlled by <code>/etc/profile</code> is set properly, add or correct the <code>umask</code> setting in <code>/etc/profile</code> to read as follows: <pre>umask <xccdf...Rule Medium Severity -
System Accounting with auditd
The audit service provides substantial capabilities for recording system activities. By default, the service audits about SELinux AVC denials and certain types of security-relevant events such as s...Group -
Enable auditd Service
The <code>auditd</code> service is an essential userspace component of the Linux Auditing System, as it is responsible for writing audit records to disk. The <code>auditd</code> service can be ena...Rule Medium Severity -
Enable Auditing for Processes Which Start Prior to the Audit Daemon
To ensure all processes can be audited, even those which start prior to the audit daemon, add the argument <code>audit=1</code> to the default GRUB 2 command line for the Linux operating system. To...Rule Low Severity -
Extend Audit Backlog Limit for the Audit Daemon
To improve the kernel capacity to queue all log events, even those which occurred prior to the audit daemon, add the argument <code>audit_backlog_limit=8192</code> to the default GRUB 2 command lin...Rule Low Severity -
Configure auditd Rules for Comprehensive Auditing
The <code>auditd</code> program can perform comprehensive monitoring of system activity. This section describes recommended configuration settings for comprehensive auditing, but a full description...Group -
Make the auditd Configuration Immutable
If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default), add the following line to a file with suffix <cod...Rule Medium Severity -
Record Events that Modify the System's Mandatory Access Controls
If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default), add the following line to a file with suffix <cod...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure auditd Collects Information on Exporting to Media (successful)
At a minimum, the audit system should collect media exportation events for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read aud...Rule Medium Severity -
Record Events that Modify the System's Network Environment
If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default), add the following lines to a file with suffix <co...Rule Medium Severity -
Record Attempts to Alter Process and Session Initiation Information
The audit system already collects process information for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during d...Rule Medium Severity -
Ensure auditd Collects System Administrator Actions
At a minimum, the audit system should collect administrator actions for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit ...Rule Medium Severity -
Shutdown System When Auditing Failures Occur
If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default), add the following line to to the bottom of a file...Rule Medium Severity
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